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Author
Topic: Jailed for disease transmission (Read 3469 times)

A man in the UK has been jailed for transmitting herpes to a female partner. As far as I know, this is the first time that someone has been successfully prosecuted for infecting someone with something other than HIV.

Personally, I don't agree with any of these prosecutions, but if STIs in general become subject to the law, could this mean that HIV becomes a less stigmatised disease? Will everyone be forced/encouraged to be more open about their sexual history, and be more likely to take responsibility for their sexual health?

Any other consequences, good or bad, and particularly for those of us living with HIV, of what I assume (at least in the UK) is a legal precedent?

“Most people who have genital herpes don’t know it because even if they do get recurrences, it is such a trivial infection that they don’t notice it. It has exactly the same medical implications and consequences as an ordinary facial cold sore so in no way can it be construed as serious.

“It is an extraordinarily ill-informed comment to compare it to HIV. This case sets back the normalisation of this trivial infection by years. I had thought such a farcical scenario could only happen in America . . . never in Northampton”.

___________

So let me get this straight. Herpes is "trivial" so the sentence as a travesty. Ah, but HIV, the plague, maybe its ok to criminalize transmission.

Logged

“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

This is kinda getting ridiculous. If people can't live with and sort out their own choices in intimate relationships without involving the police I do have to ask are we grown ups? will kids be jailed for passing on chicken pox at school? etc

He should have pleaded not guilty, transmission of herpes simplex from person A to person B is nigh on impossible to establish (and rightly so cos 8 in 10 people have it and eg I got it from my grandma kissing me as a baby, GBH, I think not).

yea this is stupid. of course i hated the person that passed this to me but then when reality sets in the only person that was stupid was me as no one had a gun to my head when i did it without rubbers. we are consenting adults that make our choices good or bad and we cant blame anyone but ourselves.

Following this logic, let's just criminalize every infectious disease, starting with the flu. Put those bastards who cough on our backs in jail. That should do the trick.

This is the thing, though, isn't it? Once HIV transmission was criminalised, it was only a matter of time before other diseases were too, because where does one, or society, draw the line?

In the UK, the Crown Prosecution Service’s’ initial working paper for bringing prosecutions for HIV transmission, passing on pubic lice was considered as a basis for criminal charges being brought. Crazy. But then I never thought I'd see people with HIV thrown in prison either.

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''Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another.''

I wonder when they will allow me to sue the mosquito for giving me Malaria when I was 11.

The mosquito didn't even disclose before sucking my blood. How selfish is that? How can the insect feed itself at my expense? It should not matter at all that it extracted nutrition, the most basic need of a living organism only following its natural instincts. Can you believe that? .

Just to clarify, I thought the testimonial was trying to make a distinction - those "serious" diseases that should be criminalised and those "trivial" that should not be prosecutable.

So while I get the point that HIV is a much more serious disease than herpes, that real logic cannot hold over to justify a bad ethical argument about criminalizing disease transmission.

It should be all or nothing. Go ahead and criminalise all the stigmatized STDS. Might move people to a point where people realize it should be all diseases, not just STDS, so in fact, it should be no diseases.

I would be content if there were some sort of assault charge that might work for especially egregious transmission of serious disease. Lets say a rapist also transmits HIV or HEP C - seems to be the law and judges/juries ought to be able to address the added harm/damage.

Having a law specifically for HIV - that makes no sense.

Logged

“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

Em, that quote from Mecch's post was taken from the article linked to in the OP.

Nigel Scott, of the Herpes Viruses Association, said: “This is outrageous. Will children also now be prosecuted for giving their friends chicken pox? For passing on a cold sore?

“Most people who have genital herpes don’t know it because even if they do get recurrences, it is such a trivial infection that they don’t notice it. It has exactly the same medical implications and consequences as an ordinary facial cold sore so in no way can it be construed as serious.

“It is an extraordinarily ill-informed comment to compare it to HIV. This case sets back the normalisation of this trivial infection by years. I had thought such a farcical scenario could only happen in America . . . never in Northampton”.

I bet Nigel Scott doesn't have genital herpes himself, otherwise he'd never make the comment "even if they do get recurrences, it is such a trivial infection that they don’t notice it" What a load of crap. Herpes hurts like hell, no matter where you get outbreaks.

While I do not consider herpes to be a trivial infection I also do not think it's something people should be jailed over. That's just idiocy. Same as criminalising hiv - idiocy! The law is an ass.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

The 24-year-old, from Daventry, Northamptonshire, said she hoped Golding's 14-month sentence would serve as a 'warning to others'.

Nigel Scott, spokesman for the Herpes Viruses Association, compared the case to prosecuting children for 'giving their friends chicken pox'.

He called for a review of the Crown Prosecution Service's guidelines on 'intentional or reckless sexual transmission of infection' policy, which were consulted before the decision to prosecute was taken.

The guidelines state that grievous bodily harm can be caused when transmission of a sexual infection will have 'serious, perhaps life-threatening, consequences for the infected person's health'.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts